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BY JEFF FALK

ANNVILLE – It was a horrible way to lose a game. But in some ways, it’s kind of how things have gone for the Palmyra boys’ basketball team this season.

On the other side, the Lebanon Cedars will take it. Lebanon is hoping it’s the type of win a team can build momentum upon.

On Saturday night at Lebanon Valley College’s Lou Sorrentino Gymnasium, during the nightcap of the 11th annual contesting of the Rhoades Classic, Lebanon edged Palmyra 42-41 in a non-league contest that featured its share of ups and downs, exhiliration and heart break, positives and negatives. The Cedars won it on junior Isaiah Rodriguez’s strong inside move to the hole with 12 seconds remaining, but not before the Cougars misfired on a couple of free throws with three seconds left, foul shots that could’ve either tied the game or proved to be decisive.

Palmyra had taken a 41-40 lead with 28 ticks to go, when senior Kasey Shughart fed teammate Josh Mark for the go-ahead lay-in. Then out of a timeout, Lebanon executed its down-low play to Rodriguez.

“It could’ve very well been one of our guys on the line, and we don’t shoot foul shots well,” said Lebanon head coach Tim Speraw of the closing sequence. “I feel bad for the kid. But I’m happy for my kids. I’m happy with our fight and how we found a way to win down the stretch.”

“It’s a really a tough position to be in,” said Palmyra head coach Pete Conrad of the missed foul shots. “Kasey’s a great competitor and it’s a spot he wants to be in. I just feel for him, because he played so well. We’re not in that position without Kasey. It didn’t work out, but Kasey’s a great team leader for us.”

The outcome was Lebanon’s second win in less than 24 hours and moved it to 6-5 on the season. Palmyra’s fourth straight loss dropped it to 2-7 overall.

“That was tough at the end,” said Speraw. “I’m just happy we won. That’s about all I can say about it.”

“It is a tough loss, to some degree,” said Conrad. “But we’ve got a pretty resilient group and good senior leaders. I don’t think they’re the kind of guys who are going to be down in the long-term. They’re competitors, and not just the older kids.”

A stick-back from Rodriguez with 4:50 remaining had given Lebanon a 39-33 advantage. But Palmyra pulled to within two points of the lead, thanks to a pair of foul shots by Roman Byler and move inside by Eli Becker.

Lebanon’s Jean Bontemps tallied the first basket of the second half, to put his side up 25-17. But the Cougars held the Cedars score-less for nearly four minutes, and used three-pointers from Shughart and Byler, and a pair of Chris Edwards buckets to forge a 27-25 edge.

“They’re a very scrappy team,” said Speraw of the Cougars. “We knew that. We knew we were going to have to bring the effort. It played out the way I expected it to.

“It was a step forward,” continued Speraw. “It was good to be on the right side of one of these. We’ve lost a bunch of these so far. Hopefully it gives us confidence going forward. Any time you can pull out a victory without your floor general (injured Luke Collins), it’s a positive.”

“I don’t think we played well in the first half,” said Conrad. “But we had a good response in the second half. Hopefully that’s a building block for us.”

Lebanon’s Marquis Ferreira led all scorers with 18 points, while Rodriguez contributed 14. Shughart popped for 11 Palmyra points.

The Cougars made just eight of their 17 charity tosses.

“He’s coming on a lot,” said Speraw of the continuing emergence of Ferreira. “He’s just a tough kid who can score in a lot of different ways. At times, he carried us.”

“We played them tough,” said Conrad. “They have good guards. Number 15 (Rodriguez) did a great job in the post. He hurt us down low.”

Palmyra netted nine of the game’s first 15 points to grab an early advantage. But the Cedars responded with five straight Ferreira points to go up 11-9.

Then in the second stanza, a couple of inside buckets from Rodriguez and a Raylin Pena jumper amounted to a 6-0 Lebanon run and a 23-14 Cedar lead.

“We were looking to get the ball into him,” said Speraw of Rodriguez’s eventual game-winning basket. “I knew they (the Cougars) were going do double him. He just made a tough move and finished.

“We control our own destiny,” added Speraw. “But we’re still one game at a time. We can’t really think about down the road.”

“We all talk about building blocks,” said Conrad. “We’re disappointed with where we’re at, but not the process.”

To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com.

2019-20 Palmyra Boys’ Basketball Schedule

2019-12-06AvsPenn Manor(3)L54-46
2019-12-07AvsDonegal(3)W44-40
2019-12-10HvsCedar Cliff(3)L69-46
2019-12-13AvsBishop McDevitt(3)L85-59
2019-12-17HvsRed Land(3)W77-38
2019-12-20AvsHershey(3)L54-40
2019-12-21HvsCedar Crest(3)L40-60
2020-01-02HvsLower Dauphin(3)L49-39
2020-01-04AvsLebanon(3)
2020-01-07HvsMechanicsburg Area Senior(3)
2020-01-10HvsSusquehanna Township(3)
2020-01-11AvsLL/MidPenn Showdown()
2020-01-14AvsCedar Cliff(3)
2020-01-15AvsAnnville Cleona(3)
2020-01-17HvsBishop McDevitt(3)
2020-01-21AvsRed Land(3)
2020-01-24HvsHershey(3)
2020-01-25HvsMilton Hershey(3)
2020-01-28AvsLower Dauphin(3)
2020-01-31AvsMechanicsburg Area Senior(3)
2020-02-01AvsNorthern Lebanon(3)
2020-02-04AvsSusquehanna Township(3)

PIAA District Three

Class AAAAA Power Rankings

AAAAASchool W L T Rating TWP OWP TWPW OWPW TWPL OWPL
1Gettysburg Area9-0-0 0.808039 1.000000 0.573420 10.0 115.2 0.0 85.7
2Muhlenberg8-0-0 0.807490 1.000000 0.572200 9.6 116.5 0.0 87.1
3Milton Hershey5-0-0 0.804543 1.000000 0.565651 5.1 107.7 0.0 82.7
4Shippensburg8-1-0 0.751263 0.909091 0.558361 8.5 108.4 0.9 85.7
5Northeastern9-2-0 0.746424 0.866109 0.600142 10.4 126.5 1.6 84.3
6New Oxford8-2-0 0.731187 0.854545 0.580415 9.4 121.8 1.6 88.1
7Northern York8-2-0 0.714324 0.839623 0.561180 8.9 110.3 1.7 86.3
8Cedar Cliff8-2-0 0.709675 0.844037 0.545455 9.2 101.1 1.7 84.3
9William Penn6-3-0 0.666991 0.738462 0.579638 7.2 110.5 2.6 80.1
10Elizabethtown Area7-4-0 0.651493 0.733333 0.551467 8.3 110.9 3.0 90.2
11York Suburban7-3-0 0.625110 0.739796 0.484937 7.3 91.0 2.6 96.6
12Lampeter Strasburg6-4-0 0.606120 0.660000 0.540268 6.6 115.1 3.4 97.9
13Conrad Weiser5-4-0 0.568545 0.627119 0.496955 5.6 102.0 3.3 103.3
14West York Area4-4-0 0.559401 0.576923 0.537986 4.5 108.7 3.3 93.4
15Big Spring4-4-0 0.554705 0.546667 0.564530 4.1 100.0 3.4 77.1
16Lower Dauphin4-5-0 0.552522 0.519337 0.593082 4.7 116.6 4.4 80.0
17Garden Spot5-5-0 0.551228 0.563725 0.535954 5.8 115.9 4.5 100.4
18Cocalico5-5-0 0.539987 0.565000 0.509416 5.7 108.2 4.4 104.2
19Manheim Central4-6-0 0.516224 0.474747 0.566918 4.7 120.3 5.2 91.9
20Mechanicsburg Area Senior4-6-0 0.498541 0.463158 0.541788 4.4 102.8 5.1 86.9
21Palmyra Area2-6-0 0.426827 0.315068 0.563421 2.3 107.1 5.0 83.0
22Hershey2-6-0 0.419479 0.315068 0.547092 2.3 106.3 5.0 88.0
23Twin Valley3-6-0 0.418992 0.374233 0.473698 3.1 91.9 5.1 102.1
24South Western2-9-0 0.391750 0.213904 0.609117 2.0 129.0 7.4 82.8
25Solanco2-8-0 0.382174 0.247312 0.547006 2.3 113.8 7.0 94.2
26Dover2-8-0 0.375734 0.236559 0.545837 2.2 103.9 7.1 86.5
27Greencastle Antrim1-8-0 0.358720 0.135484 0.631565 1.1 115.5 6.7 67.4
28Spring Grove Area1-9-0 0.353993 0.110465 0.651638 1.0 140.2 7.7 75.0
29Donegal1-8-0 0.323379 0.139394 0.548250 1.2 115.9 7.1 95.5
30Daniel Boone0-10-0 0.301254 0.000000 0.669453 0.0 132.2 9.6 65.3
31Ephrata Area0-12-0 0.284855 0.000000 0.633011 0.0 137.3 9.6 79.6
32Red Land0-10-0 0.277836 0.000000 0.617413 0.0 124.1 8.4 76.9

Mid-Penn Conference

Keystone Division Standings

SchoolDivision%Overall%
Cedar Cliff High School4-0-01.0008-1-00.889
Bishop McDevitt High School5-0-01.0006-0-01.000
Susquehanna Township High School2-1-00.6672-2-00.500
Hershey High School2-2-00.5002-7-00.222
Lower Dauphin High School1-3-00.2503-4-00.429
Palmyra Area High School1-3-00.2502-5-00.286
Mechanicsburg Area High School1-4-00.2001-5-00.167
Red Land High School0-3-00.0000-4-00.000

2019-20 Lebanon Boys’ Basketball Schedule

DateOpponentsOutcomes
12/06
7:30 pm
Elco
Lebanon
at Lebanon
57
53

Nonleague
12/07
TBD
Red Land
at Lebanon
39
70

Nonleague
12/10
7:30 pm
Lebanon
at Governor Mifflin
53
60

Nonleague
12/13
7:30 pm
McCaskey
at Lebanon
63
61

League
12/16
7:30 pm
Lebanon
at Cedar Crest
55
57

League
12/18
7:30 pm
Hempfield
at Lebanon
47
51

League
12/20
7:30 pm
Lebanon
at Penn Manor
58
53

League
12/27
6:00 pm
Emmaus
Lebanon
at Cedar Crest
61
69

Nonleague
12/28
7:30 pm
Lebanon
at Cedar Crest
49
59

Nonleague
1/03
7:30 pm
Lebanon
at Ephrata
59
22

League
1/04
6:00 pm
Palmyra
Lebanon
at Lebanon Valley College

Nonleague
1/06
7:30 pm
Lebanon
at Manheim Township

League
1/10
7:30 pm
Elizabethtown
at Lebanon

League
1/11
3:00 pm
Conrad Weiser
Lebanon
at Garden Spot

Nonleague
1/14
7:30 pm
Warwick
at Lebanon

League
1/16
7:30 pm
Lebanon
at Conestoga Valley

League
1/20
7:30 pm
Lebanon
at Garden Spot

Nonleague
1/21
7:30 pm
Ephrata
at Lebanon

League
1/25
2:30 pm
Hershey
at Lebanon

Nonleague
1/28
7:30 pm
Lebanon
at Elizabethtown

League
1/31
7:30 pm
Lebanon
at Warwick

League
2/04
7:30 pm
Conestoga Valley
at Lebanon

League

PIAA District Three

Class AAAAAA Power Rankings

AAAAAASchool W L T Rating TWP OWP TWPW OWPW TWPL OWPL
1Wilson8-1-0 0.830899 0.926108 0.714531 9.4 145.6 0.8 58.2
2Cedar Crest11-0-0 0.797108 1.000000 0.549129 13.0 113.5 0.0 93.2
3Exeter Township7-1-0 0.787608 0.912791 0.634606 7.9 133.0 0.8 76.6
4Governor Mifflin7-2-0 0.784117 0.840796 0.714844 8.5 146.4 1.6 58.4
5Reading7-2-0 0.773891 0.844560 0.687518 8.2 122.0 1.5 55.5
6Cumberland Valley7-1-0 0.760068 0.919355 0.565383 8.6 96.2 0.8 74.0
7Central York8-2-0 0.752697 0.855856 0.626615 9.5 128.6 1.6 76.6
8Harrisburg2-1-0 0.708148 0.769231 0.633492 2.5 106.3 0.8 61.5
9Central Dauphin6-3-0 0.694386 0.756757 0.618155 7.0 105.6 2.3 65.2
10Penn Manor7-3-0 0.692265 0.776190 0.589690 8.2 127.6 2.4 88.8
11Dallastown5-3-0 0.676959 0.704819 0.642907 5.9 138.5 2.5 76.9
12Central Dauphin East4-2-0 0.672115 0.724638 0.607921 5.0 107.5 1.9 69.3
13Chambersburg Area6-3-0 0.669472 0.748718 0.572617 7.3 96.4 2.5 72.0
14J P McCaskey5-4-0 0.658907 0.661376 0.655891 6.3 137.0 3.2 71.9
15Warwick6-4-0 0.641334 0.685714 0.587091 7.2 123.7 3.3 87.0
16Manheim Township5-5-0 0.634214 0.607143 0.667300 6.0 140.5 3.9 70.1
17Waynesboro Area5-4-0 0.597639 0.627119 0.561608 5.6 108.3 3.3 84.5
18Lebanon5-5-0 0.595497 0.605000 0.583882 6.1 115.2 4.0 82.1
19Red Lion5-5-0 0.585795 0.566327 0.609589 5.6 129.1 4.3 82.7
20HEMPFIELD4-7-0 0.551196 0.467662 0.653294 4.7 134.4 5.4 71.3
21York County School Of Technology4-2-0 0.527859 0.666667 0.358205 3.8 63.9 1.9 114.4
22Carlisle2-7-0 0.479004 0.313725 0.681011 2.4 122.7 5.3 57.5
23Conestoga Valley3-8-0 0.457010 0.336788 0.603949 3.3 136.1 6.4 89.3

Lancaster-Lebanon League

Section Two Standings

LeagueOverall
WLPCTWLPCTPFPA
Elizabethtown320.600740.636668639
Warwick320.600640.600562474
Lebanon320.600550.500578518
Conestoga Valley050.000380.273572610
Ephrata050.0000120.000443702

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